Snap switch



Oct. 22, 1940. E L" FONSECA 2,218,908

SNAP SWITCH Original Filed June 20, 1934 Patented Oct. 22, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT oFFies SNAP SWITCH Original application June 20, 1934, Serial No. 731,403, now Patent No. 2,125,627, dated August 2, 1938. Divided and this application September 28, 1937, Serial No. 166,072

2 Claims: (01. 20

This invention relates to thermostatic regulators and has particular reference to thermostatic regulators for application to electric stoves, ranges and other heaters for controlling the temperature within the oven or other heated space.

This application is a division of copending application Serial No. 731,403, filed June 20, 1934, in the name of Edward L. Fonseca now Patent No. 2,125,627, granted August 2, 1938.

Thermostatic regulators for electric ranges have been to a very large extent of the relay type in which a thermostat, expanding and contracting in response to temperature changes in the oven, actuated a switch for opening and closing the circuit of a relay adapted to control the fullload current supplied to the electric heater of the oven. This arrangement not only required expensive and bulky relay apparatus but required two circuits, the relay circuit and the heating circuit, because the relatively delicate thermostat switch could not be employed for directly making and breaking the lull-load heating current.

This situation was subsequently somewhat improved by the employment of a mercury switch capable upon tilting by the thermostat of directly making and breaking the full-load heating current, but because the thermostat is directly'connected to the mercury switch in order to impart tilting movement to the" latter the regulator can only be mounted in a particular position, so that it has little installation flexibility. This is especially the case on the new console or table top types of ranges, in which the inner wall of the oven is so low that when it is attempted to mount the regulator in the usual place on that wall, it is so close to the outer heaters that it is not only liable to injury by pots and pans but its accuracy of operation is seriously disturbed by the transmission of the extraneous heat from these outside heaters to the thermostat. Also, due to its proximity t the outside heaters, the handle of this regulator mounted in that position frequently becomes uncomfortably hot and as it is necessary to reach over at least one outside heater to operate the regulator, there is danger of burning the hand and igniting the clothing. Furthermore, the installation of this type of regulator requires cutting a large hole through the wall and insulation of the oven, and the location of the thermostat adjacent the upper heater in the oven in a heat zone having a temperature higher than that in the zone in which the broiling or the like operations-actually take place, so that the broiling heat is lower than intended.

In accordance with the present invention. a

thermostatic regulator for the oven of an electric range or the like is provided, which is eflective to directly make and break the full-load current of the oven heater without arcing and without the necessity of employing relays or relao tively large mercury switches; which is so flexible that it can be installed on any type of elec-- tric range and at any desired point thereon with the thermo-sensitive element located in the actual heat zone where the cooking and baking opera- 1 tions take place; in which this may be done with a minimum of labor and without cutting large holes in the oven wall and insulation; and which is immune to the influence of the exterior heaters or other sources of extraneous heat regardless of the location of the regulator with respect to the source of extraneous heat.

The invention in its preferred form comprises a bulb adapted to be located in the baking or cooking zone of the oven and connected by a flexible capillary tube to an expansible and contractible chamber, such as a metal bellows, mounted on a casing located at any desired point on the range and operatively connected to an improved form of snap switch controlling the full-load current connections to the heater in the oven. The connections between the switch and the bellows are adjustable at will by means of a handle, so that the switch will be operated by the bellows at any selected oven temperature. The

which retains its liquidity throughout the operating temperature range of the oven. A liquidfilled thermostatic apparatus having these characteristics is described in detail in Patent No. 1,978,362, granted October 23, 1934.

- The switch comprises a flexible metal strip having two legs or tension members anchored at their ends, and an intermediate leg or spring strip distorted out of the plane of the other legs and loosely mounted on one end of a rigid bar pivoted on the casing at its other end and connected intermediate its ends to the thermostat bellows and adjusting handle. The switch is biased toward open position, but is held under tension in normally closed position by the bellows spring at oven temperatures below a predetermined maximum degree, so that contacts on its free end normally engage fixed contacts to close the circuit of the oven heater. The tension on the strip causes it to rapidly separate the contacts with a snap action when the rigid bar thereswitches I4 or the like.

of is released by expansion of the bellows in response to a temperature rise in the oven. Stops restrain the flexible strip from moving to the extreme contact-opening position to which it is urged by its distored intermediate leg, so that only a slight re-application of pressure thereon by the bellows'spring in response to a temperature drop in the oven results in restoration of the switch to its contact-closing position, only a slight movement of the thermostat bellows being necessary to move the switch in either direction, so that the instrument is extremely sensitive and positive in its operation.

Also interposed in the connections between the thermostat bellows and the switch, is a compensating thermostat which responds with the oven thermostat to the extraneous temperatures, but which acts oppositely to the oven thermostat, so as to nullify the effects of the extraneous temperatures on the oven thermostat, whereby the latter responds accurately only to temperature changes in the oven. Accordingly, the new instrument may be mounted anywhere on the .range without regard to proximity to outside burners, since the compensating thermostat prevents the heat of the outside burner from affecting the operation of the oven thermostat. A thermostatic regulator embodying compensation is disclosed in the copending application of Edward L. Fonseca, Serial No. 575,525, filed November 17, 1931 now Patent No. 2,101,735, granted December 7,1937. It is to be understood, however,

that the present invention need not be associated with the self-compensating feature, but may be employed with equal facility without it, depending upon the location of the-regulator on the range or other electric heater.

For a more complete understanding of the in vention,-reference may be had to the accompanying drawing, in which I Figure 1 illustrates one way of mounting the new regulator on an electric range of the console type;

Figure 2 is an enlarged longitudinal section through the regulator as seen along the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a cross-section through the regulator as seen along the line 33 of Figure 2; and

Figures 4 and 5 are partial sectional views of the regulator showing the switch in closed and open positions, respectively.

Referring to Figure 1 of the drawing, an electric range of the console type is illustrated thereby, this range including the oven 10 having conventional upper and lower electric heating elements H and I2, respectively, and a series of outside electric heaters l3 turned on and off by As illustrated in Figure 1, the inner side wall l5 of the oven I0 is so low that it is impracticable to mount the usual thermostatic regulator on this wall because, not

only is it so close to the open exterior heaters 13 as to be liable to injury from cooking utensils moved around on the open heater l3, but it is also in the heat zone of the exterior heaters I3. This extraneous heat makes the adjusting handle uncomfortably hot and thermostatically disturbs the operation of the thermostat, so that its response varies with the turning on and off of the exterior burners instead of only with variations in the oven temperature.

With the present invention the regulator need not be mounted in the usual place on the inner wall 15 of the oven H), but may be mouned anywhere, regardless of the heat emitted by the exterior heaters l3. For example, the body I8 of the regulator, may be mounted below the exterior heaters l3 and behind the front panel I! so that no part of it is visible or projects through the panel but the adjusting knob 18, whereby the pleasing and less utilitarian appearance of the modern range is preserved. This optional positioning of the new regulator is rendered possible both by the flexible connection of the thermostat bulb l9, which is afforded by the flexible metal capillary tube 20, and by the fact that the regulator is self-compensating to eliminate the disturbingeffects of the heat emitted by the exterior heaters l3, no matter howclose to these heaters the regulator body I6 is located. Also, because of this flexibility of the new regulator, the bulb l9 may be mounted in the oven in whatever position therein is found to be productive of the best results, instead of having its position determined by reference to the construction of the controller and the position desired for the operating handle of the controller.

The capillary tube 20, communicating at one end with bulb i9, is sealed at its other end in nipple 2i communicating with the interior of a cup 22, secured to a bracket 23 mounted on the body iii of the regulator. Located within this cup 22 is a flexible metal bellows 24 which is closed at its inner end 25 and sealed at its outer end to the ring 26 which in turn is sealed to the inner wall of the cup 22, so that an annular chamber 2'1 is formed between the outer surface of the bellows 26 and the interior surface. of the cup 22, the volume of which varies with the expansion and contraction. of the bellows 2E.

The bulb IS, the capillary tube 20 and the chamber 21 are completely filled with a nonmetallic liquid having thermostatic properties and retaining its liquidity fromlowest probable room temperature to 650 E, which approximates the maximum operatingtemperature of the oven in. A suitable liquid for this purpose is chlorinated diphenyl, as disclosed in the aforementioned Patent No. 1,978,362.

Engaging the bottom or inner end 25 of the bellows 24 is a disc 28 secured to the inner end of a rod or actuator. 29, which is threaded at its outer end 30 and is guided for axial movement in an opening in bracket 23 of the regulator. A spring 3| interposed between disc 28 and the surface of bracket 23 normally urges the bellows 24 toward distended position. Mounted on the threaded outer end 30 of the rod 29 is a nut 32, having a shoulder 33 and keys 34 which are axially slidable in slots 35 of a bearing cone 3E rotatable in a conical seat in the body l6 and forming part of a shaft 31-extending through panel l1 and carrying the adjusting knob 18 which lies in front of the panel l1. A stop pin 38 on the body I6 is arranged to be engaged by a stop lug 39 on the under side of the graduated dial 40 of knob Hi to limit the rotation thereof. A spring 4! interposed between the body l6 and a disc 42 on shaft '3'! holds the cone 36 against its conical seat in the valve body It and also holds the knob l8 in any adjusted position. It will be observed that rotation of the knob l8 causes nut 32 to be screwed along the threaded outer end 30 of rod 29 to vary the relationship between the bellows 24 and the shoulder 33 of nut 32. I

Carried by the body- It is a snap switch 43, the principal element of which comprises an elongated, thinstrip of resilient metal which is slit which is seated for pivotal movement in a transverse notch 49 in the body IS. The free end 50 of the flexible strip carries an insulating block 5| on which is loosely supported at its center point a conducting plate 52 having two spaced contacts 53 adapted to engage two corresponding spaced contacts 54 secured on the inner ends of binding posts 55, which are insulated from each other and from body l6 by insulating plates 56, and which are connected by wires 55' in the circuit of the oven heaters and I2. The free end 56 of the switch strip is provided with a slotted extension 51 embracing a stop bolt 58 adjustably mounted on body l6 for limiting the outward movement of the switch strip during its contact-opening movement. The pivoted end of the rigid bar 41 of switch 43 is slotted for passage of the threaded end 30 of rod 29. It will be observed that the contacts 54 and the head of bolt 58 form stops between which the free end of the switch strip moves. It will also be observed that the screws 44 and bar 41 form mountings about which the strips 45 and spring leg 46, respectively, may move, the spring leg 46 having a. shorter radius of action than the strips 45.

Secured at one end by rivets 59, or the like, to the bar 41 is a bi-metallic thermostat 60, the other or free end of which is notched and is provided with a transverse ridge 6| resting on the shoulder 33 of nut 32 whereby the shoulder functions as an actuator for the snap switch. The bi-metallic strip 60 is so arranged that its free end 6| flexes away from bar 41 in response to a rise in temperature extraneous to the oven ill and flexes toward the bar 41 in response to a drop in temperature extraneous to the oven 10, so that the eifective relationship between the switch and the bellows 24 is varied thermostatically in response to changes in extraneous temperatures. The flexure of a compensating thermostat 60 away from bar 41 in response to an increase in the extraneous temperature is indicated in Figure 5.

' Adjustable stop pins 62 and 63 are located on bracket 23 and on body l6, respectively, at either side of bar 41 and bi-metallic strip 60, so as to limit the movement of the switch to either side of its dead center position. The open switch v position illustrated in Figure 5 is the normal position of the switch, the strip being biased to this position by the tension imposed by distorted intermediate leg 46. In this position, limited by stop 58, the free end of the intermediateleg 46 lies slightly to the right side of the tension center line of lateral legs 45 as seen in Figure 5. By the tension center line of legs 45 is meant the imaginary line connecting the junction of legs 45 and Spring 46 with the plane of the points of support of the le s 45 at the screws 44. Move ment of the nut 32 to the left, as when the bellows 24 distends, produces a pressure, swinging bar 41 to the left about its knife blade pivot 48, until the free end of leg 46 is moved slightly to the left side of the lateral legs 45, when the switch rapidly snaps to closed position. The pressure between contacts 53 and 54 is adjustable by means of stop 62, whilestop 63 cooperates with stop 53 to limit the extent of contact-opening movement of the switch. A casing 64 houses the operating mechanism of the regulator and is secured by screws 66 to the body ii.

In operation, the new regulator of this invention responds to an increase in the temperature in the oven H) in accordance with the expansion of the thermostatic liquid in bulb l6, this expansion being communicated by the liquid column in capillary tube 20 to the chamber 21 which accordingly increases in volume due to the compression of bellows 24. This movement of bellows 24 is communicated to rod 23 and nut 32, which move to the right, as seen in Figure 2, to release the bar 41 of switch 43 which accordingly snaps from the closed position of Figure 4 to the open position illustrated in Figure 5 to disconnect the heaters II and I2 from the line. Because this movement of the bar 41 is in a direction opposite to the opening movement of the switch contacts-53 the action of the switch is positive, so that there is no fluttering or "telegraphing of the switch and consequently the liability of burning ofthe switch contacts for that reason i eliminated.

Subsequent cooling of the oven l0 below the predetermined temperature set on dial 40 causes the thermostatic liquid in bulb I 9 to contract and bellows 24to distend, moving rod 23 and nut 30 32 to the left to swing bar 41 to the left to snap switch 43 into circuit-closing position. Adjustment of nut 32 along rod 23 by knob I 6 determines the amount of movement of the nut 32 to the left that is necessary to snap switch 43 to closed position, and since this movement depends upon the temperature in the oven, the temperature at which the switch 43 operates may be preset by varying the position of nut 32 on rod 23 at will be means of knob IS, the dial 4!! of which is calibrated accordingly.

When the outside heaters l3 are turned on the considerable heat emanating therefrom expands the thermostatic liquid in chamber 21 so that the bellows is contracted to move the nut 32 to the right, as though the oven temperature increased, whereas it remained unchanged. However, the compensating thermostat 60, also responding to this extraneous heat, bends to the right away from bar 41 to follow up the false movement of the nut 32 to prevent the opening of switch 43, and thus the eflfect of the extraneous temperatures on the regulator is nullified. The reverse action takes place when the exterior heaters l3 are turned off, so that in any event, the regulator is self-compensating for outside temperatures from any source.

It will be apparent that since the bulb within the oven and the expansible chamber of the controller are connected by the flexible capillary tube 26, the bulb may be mounted within the oven at the most advantageous point from the standpoint of response to changes of temperature therein, no limitation upon the position of the bulb in the oven being imposed by the construction of the instrument and the location desired for the controlling handle l8. Also,'the construction employed in connection with the movement of the electric contact is such that a quick break of the circuit is effected. the contacts are held firmly in both the open and closed positions, and the first portion of the movement of the bar 41 and leg 46 in the direction for opening the contacts results in greater pressure of the movable contacts upon the stationary ones and in that way reduces the possibility of chattering at the contacts with resulting arcing.

While a preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described herein, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereby, but is susceptible of various changes of form and detail within its scope.

What is claimed is:

1. A snap switch comprising a sheet of spring metal forming tension and compression strips generally parallel and extending from one end of the sheet where the strips are interconnected and free to move, one of the strips being shorter than the other, means engaging the opposite end of each strip and on which the strip is operatively mounted, the mounting means for the compression strip being spaced from said first end of the sheet a distance substantially less than the normal, effective length of the compression strip, whereby the compression strip is bowed in the form of an arc and holds the other strip under tension, the mounting means for the compression strip including a member generally parallel to the compression strip and movable laterally relative to the other mounting means about a point located on one side of the tension centerline of the tension strip, thereby to move the mounted end of the compression strip through the tension centerline of the tension strip, and a pair of stops disposed on opposite sides of the said tension centerline adjacent the interconnected ends of the strips and between which said ends of the v ends.

one of the stops being adjustable to vary the throw of the interconnected ends or the strips.

2. A snap switch comprising a sheet or spring metal forming tension and compression strips generally parallel and extending from one end of the sheet where the strips are interconnected and free to move, the compression strip being shorter than the tension strip and normally acting to move back into the plane of the tension strip when deflected laterally out of said plane, means for each strip engaging the opposite end thereof and on which the strip is operatively mounted, the mounting means for the compression strip being spaced from said first end of the sheet a distance substantially less than the normal, eflective length of the compression strip, whereby said last strip is bowed in the form of an arc and holds the other strip under tension, the mounting means for the compression strip including a member generally parallel to the compression strip and movable laterally relative to the other mounting means about a point located on one side of the tension centerline of the tension strip, thereby to move said opposite end of the compression strip through the tension centerline of the tension strip, and a pair of stops disposed on opposite sides of said tension ceniterline adjacent the interconnected ends of these strips and between which said ends are movable, the stops being closely spaced to maintain said interconnected ends within a range of movement in which the compression strip is held in its bowed form by its mounting means, one of the stops being adjustable to vary the throw of said interconnected RUTH V. FONSECA. Emeeutrix of the Last Will and Testament of Edward L. Fonseca, Deceased. 

